Green Battalion--Murderers? Terrorists? Inhuman Scum?

[gottaB]

Facts as they are known to me.

On April 9th, four Italian men are reported to have been captured near a mosque in suburban Baghdad. That is unconfirmed.

On Monday April 12, Al Jazeera reports that four Italian paramilitary contractors* were captured in Fallujah by a group of heavily armed men calling themselves the Green Battalion. The Green Battalion wear no uniforms. It is uncertain who they are exactly, where they reside or whose legitimate interests they claim to represent. Presumably they believe they are taking up arms in defense of Islam.

The Green Battalion claimed that their captives were spies. I know of no evidence offered in support of that claim.

The group threatened to kill their captives if certain demands were not met, among them a withdrawal of Italian troops from Iraq, and the release of supporters of Moqtada al-Sadr, and members of his Madhi Army.

On Wednesday, one of the captives, Fabrizio Quattrocchi, was executed. He was shot in the back of the head with a pistol. His captors videotaped the killing and distributed the tape to news media.

That's what I know. So was it murder?

Why should I care? What's the difference? Well, Misters Blair and Bush are casting themselves and their illegal war as a matter of defending civilians of the free world against murderous terrorist thugs. Considering all the abductions in Iraq lately, they would seem to have a case. And indeed, Western media, such as Reuters, who pride themselves on objectivity, are reporting events exactly that way. Civilians are being kidnapped and murdered by gangs of terrorists.

On the other hand, it could be that paramilitary forces are being taken captive and executed by enemy forces fighting for a legitimate right to self-determination. And from that point of view, it would be hard to distinguish the tactics of the Green Battalion from those advocated by Defense Secretary Rumsfeld or Viceroy Lewis Paul Bremer, III. All of them claim the right to detain illegal combatants, to exempt such detainees from certain protections spelled out in the Geneva conventions, and to execute spies and traitors.

One thing is certain in my mind. With so many heavily-armed, uninhibited killers running around claiming to stop at nothing in their zeal to protect the civilian population of Iraq, a whole lot of people are bound to get hurt.

______

*Three were employed by DTS Security LLC (as in Dyncorp Technical Services, aka war crimes R US, a subsidiary of csc trading on the NYSE??--search me, but these guys are not hanging dry wall, that much is certain). The fourth man, Mr. Salvatore Stefio, is, I believe, the CEO of an outfit called Presidium International Corporation.

[BlueEyedSon]

1. Correction to your endnote.

Dyncorp was acquired by Computer Sciences Corporation which trades on the NYSE under the symbol CSC.

http://bigcharts.marketwatch.com/quickchart/quickchart.asp?symb=csc&sid=0&o_symb=csc&x=0&y=0

[gottaB]

2. thanks, fixed

[xchrom]

3. interesting

i have lots of questions about the e.u. and the use of mercenaries.
to a certain extent we're used to the news here in the u.s. because they{the government} use mercenaries in south america all the time. when americans hear about it -- they sigh and turn away. no one{besides anti-pentagon types} is outraged and merely reinforces the notion that there is nothing you can do about the direction of government.

[gottaB]

4. mercs as psyop?

are we the enemy? We, the people? In the eyes of the Vulcans, it may be so.

Otherwise, surely they would heed the advice of their prophet:

http://oll.libertyfund.org/Texts/Machiavelli0156/Writings/HTMLs/0076-02_Pt01_Prince.html#hd_lf076.2.head.015

[brainshrub]

5. Fuck all mercenaries.

Mercenaries are the scum of the earth.

[BeFree]

6. All is fair in Love and War, eh?

We should have never declared War on the People of Iraq.

Oh, wait, we never did, did we? So what the hell are we doing?

[gottaB]

7. What the hell? Something about civiliza.. civil vil vil civ

villianies

--and God forbid we should dehumanize anybody along the way.

[Ardee]

8. One point

"Why should I care? What's the difference? Well, Misters Blair and Bush are casting themselves and their illegal war as a matter of defending civilians of the free world against murderous terrorist thugs. Considering all the abductions in Iraq lately, they would seem to have a case. And indeed, Western media, such as Reuters, who pride themselves on objectivity, are reporting events exactly that way. Civilians are being kidnapped and murdered by gangs of terrorists."

Mr. Blair and Mr. Bush change their reasons for this invasion as often as I change my underwear. WMD's....not found, well Hussein was a brutal disctator and deserved to go. No popular support in Iraq for this regime change.....well they need a democracy in that country and in that region as a role model.

I believe that the invasion of Iraq had one major purpose aside from all that lovely oil. It incited fundamental Islamists, increased so called terrorist activities in both Iraq and Afghanistan (where they didnt have clue one as to what to do after overthrowing the Taliban)and enabled Bush to pose as a war time president and ride a wave of support enabling him to ram home his tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans, gut our public education, install unfit judges (at least we saw some democratic backbone here ,hallelulah, refusing 4 out of 97 nominees)etc.,etc.,etc.

I remember an interview with bin Laden ,shortly after 9/11, in a Pakistani newspaper. In this rather lengthy interview he denied responsibility for the events of 9/11 most vehemently and pointed fingers at governmental agencies in the west. At the time I considered this to be tinfoil hat type stuff and dismissed it out of hand. Now, well, who the hell cand say. I note that terrorists are very quick to accept responsibility for their actions if only to help fund raising by showing effectiveness, so why on earth would Osama deny he was responsible, after all we cant catch the guy anyway?

The longer we flounder in both Afghanistan and Iraq, the longer we see no concrete plans, policies or direction from our government the more I see those fighting to oust our troops as freedom fighters and the less I see them as terrorists.

[gottaB]

9. agree with your basic premise about Operation Bunnypants

But not about OBL. For one thing was OBL's organization dependent upon fundraising like other terrorist groups?

Well, once you acknowledge the essential betrayal here, the fact that Operation Bunnypants is all about hijacking our republic and terrorizing us, then, yeah, you're sort of led to wonder about lihops and mihops. Morally and politically, I think they're capable. Hmmm.

[gottaB]

10. Upon reflection I think OBL represents a unique kind of wretchedness

For all of the faults and abuses of Operation Bunnypants, the Vulcans remain mere people. Mihop seems far-fetched to me, and lihop could too easily be a distraction.

I beleive that there are Islamist terrorists who commit murderous acts with no regard for the political ambitions of the BFEE.

It's vital that we non-muslim Americans understand the reasoning whereby Islamic clerics roundly condemned the attacks on the World Trade Center, whereas certain abductions and killings which the Western press describes as terrorism are considered by scholars to be in keeping with the Qoran.

And then there's the question of international law.

[Ardee]

11. financing

Oh yeah AlQaeda, which is really a sort of clearing house for terrorist, obtains financing for groups with plans that it apporves of and seeks to abet. Osama may be a millionare but he actively seeks funds from a number of sources, thus whatever actions they abet they must perforce claim.